Those crazy Kiwis at Martin
Jetpack like to pop in every now and then to show off their
eponymous flying craft, and though we still don't have a timeframe for plunking down $150,000 to own one and donning our best Boba Fett costume for the inaugural flight home, the company is making accommodations. Starting early next year in its hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand, you'll be able to try out the flight pack yourself as part of the Martin Jetpack Experience. The "low, slow" thrill ride won't hover above 3.3 feet or go faster than 6.2 miles per hour, but according to
The New Zealand Herald, it's only expected to cost about as much as bungie jumping, and if you ask
really nicely, we're sure they won't mind you wearing the costume anyway.
posted Aug 2nd 2009 9:54AM
It's a start
Or you can build an ultralight glider and add a Jet turbine to it.
I can't wait to see everyone update their facebook picture!
i never thought i would say this, but i think i'd rather own a segway
It looks like the guy got eaten by the jet pack...
did anyone else misread the first line as "poop in a row" not "pop in now"?
does it play rocket man?
No. It plays 'Jetpack' by Jill Sobule.
Whee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now will people be holding you or what? It won't feel like flying if they are holding you...
Its technically not a jetpack. You just put a big thing on your back and people lift you up, so you can pretend your using a jetpack.
Nah they're just hanging on for the ride. Those are the passenger "seats".
It needs more cowbell.
It's not an anythng-'pack' unless it's 'smaller' than the person wearing it. If you have to 'pilot' something then it shouldn't be called a pack. Looks like the guys got an MRI machine attached to his body.
Oh and, sorry it's off topic but on the podcast when are you guys gonna discuss that jerk (forgot his name) saying that nothing should be free on the internet and the whole net should be poppulated with only stuff you have to pay to view.
Well, it's not exactly "King of the Rocket Men" stuff but everyone has to start somewhere...
By the way, this microlight wont be of much use in the States...
Pilot: Must weigh between 63.5kg and 108.9kg
:)
The one that flew around the stadium in the last century was smaller and didn't need human stabilizers. Give me a lawn chair and helium balloons.
Let me know when the model comes out where you can stand on top inside a cubicle and not those stupid body straps...
Hey! I live in Christchurch! Sweeet!
Oh wait, it's expensive.
"Uses: Initially offered to governments for border patrol, search and rescue, etc."
Perhaps you can volunteer to guard the town borders, for 10 minutes until the fuel runs out, you'd have to use clever mathematical formulas to determine the exact time the border is at risk of.. erm.. being stolen?
I wish Engadget would quit translating things into "3.3 feet" and "6.2 MPH" for us stupid Americans. Really? Can't you just say 1 meter and 10 KM? Even if you have to put the feet and MPH parenthetically, please quit with the outright translations. Much (most?) of your audience is under 35 and has heard of this crazy metric system that the entire world uses (sorry, except for the U.S. and Guatemala).
Hey buddy, the day I fold to some French developed unit of measurement is the day I tuck my penis between my legs, change my name to Shirley and start dressing in drag.
/patriotism
If you're going to need those two guys, why not just let then carry you? It was good enough for kings in the olden days (and Will Farrel).
That's not a Jetpack that's a Frigidaire.
wow 100km/hr is actually pretty fast.
and it will feel REALLY fast when you're only 3 feet off the ground..
btw im getting the 100km/hr from the link..
"People will be able to fly a jetpack about a metre above the ground at no more than 10km/h in a carefully controlled outdoor area. The price will be around the same as for adventure activities such as bungy jumping.
It will be a far cry from flying at 100km/h, which is the capability planned for the jetpack that will eventually be sold to the public."
Haha, sure, sold to the public, must be public in a strange country without regulation and where people are very skilled and not accident prone and where they still have top-notch medical facilities but not many trees or buildings or poles standing around but where there's always five people around to hoist you in the thing, I'm thinking the royal estate of the queen maybe?
More of a big leaf blower pack then a jetpack
couldnt agree with you more
Man, if the Obama Administration was *really* progressive, they'd be paying Americans to smash their cars, and giving us a down payment to buy these.
Is that a rocket in your pocket, or are you just glad to crash into me....
I'm wondering who this is more of a danger to... the peson flying it or the people they could completely obliterate when they crash?
most americans can't even handle driving a car!
"The one that flew around the stadium in the last century was smaller and didn't need human stabilizers."
That would be the Bell Aerosystems rocket pack, with a flight time of only 30 seconds. That's the reason this thing is a big deal; it can fly for thirty *minutes* because it uses ducted fans instead of rocket fuel for thrust, and those fans run off a highly efficient internal combustion engine. Hence it's bigger and clunkier but it flies for *much* longer on a tank of fuel, and that's regular, affordable gasoline rather than the expensive chemical fuel that rocket packs use.
This may not be as small as you'd prefer, but like it or not it's a huge technological leap ahead of rocket packs in terms of performance and price.
Does the older guy on the right not care about his hearing anymore, or has he already lost it?
As a Kiwi myself, I think... we should put rocket launcers and machine guns on these puppies and build zillions of em! Then we'd have arguably the most advanced, albeit still entirely useless AirForce in the world! But at least we'd have an AirForce. Not like now, where we have a couple transport planes and a few old Vietnam era Huey's.
No I know, I know... give em to the Cops here... how cool would that be? Machine guns and rocet launcers still... and Tazers. Oooo and a robot arm with a trudgen. Pops out the side. Shhhhick! Wallop wallop wallop...zap zzzzzz!
I should get a petition or something going...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TBndcBjQFM
I find some of the comments here quite funny and out of date. It may be worth watching the you tube video linked above. Note this is now old footage as it was filmed in April. This clearly shows the pilot isn't being lifted. It also clearly shows unassisted flight. The speeds and heights shown in the video are very similar to what you'll experience in the Jetpack Experience venture.